


Pieces

by Medie



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: M/M, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-08
Updated: 2016-01-08
Packaged: 2018-05-12 13:16:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5667430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Medie/pseuds/Medie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hydra never could control the Soldier. Not entirely. They'd never understood why, but they'd never tried to. They'd only cared enough to wipe him and start over; rinse and repeat until he let go.</p>
<p>He didn't.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pieces

**Author's Note:**

  * For [arysteia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/arysteia/gifts).



> baby's first soulmate fic ;)

It's Stark that finds him; however accidentally. Bucky's not exactly clear on the mechanics. Something about a guy named Vanko, payback, and the Black Widow, but it doesn't matter. The Russians vomit up a ton of information and somewhere in all of it they find the Winter Soldier. 

And then, in the Winter Soldier, they find Bucky. 

Not all at once and not in one piece, but they find him. He spends a few years puttering around Stark's place in New York with a small legion of doctors and bots that fucking _dote_ on him. He swears it's the irritation alone that gets him back to some version of himself he recognizes. 

But it's not that. It's not. It's that itch he feels at the back of his neck. That tie. The persistent tug that tells him he's not allowed to hide. That he doesn't have the option of hiding. That, no matter how much he wants to, he can't sink anywhere. He can't hide from this or from what happened. Not now. 

Not with Steve still out there. 

Hydra never could control the Soldier. Not entirely. They'd never understood why, but they'd never tried to. They'd only cared enough to wipe him and start over; rinse and repeat until he let go.

He didn't.

He doesn't know how he knows, doesn't know how much of it's just them and how much of them is _it_ , but it doesn't matter how. It doesn't matter why. It matters that the itch gets stronger with every day; the pull so irresistible that he nearly walks into traffic, like he might come round the corner and find Steve standing there waiting. 

And then the call comes in. He doesn't need to answer to know what it is or where. The small mercy is he doesn't need to. Natalia is waiting for him on the street with a helmet in hand. "They're bringing him in now," she say, impassive, but he feels the smile she's holding back and knows she can see it in his eyes. 

The one Hydra could never quite kill. 

"How is he?" 

"An icicle." She flicks the helmet shut and starts her bike. "They've been working on thawing him out. All I can tell you is that there's a heartbeat. The rest--"

The rest is up to him. 

He's fine with that. 

Getting there isn't something he pays attention to. It isn't something that he cares enough to pay attention to. All he knows, all he feels, is the call; _Steve_. It pounds in his ears with every breath, pushes through his veins with every heartbeat, and all he can do is keep going. Wheels against ground and then feet against floor until there's cold skin beneath his hands and a sluggishly beating heart beneath his ear.

Dimly, Bucky's aware of Natalia dismissing the medical staff. Some part of him even imagines how it must look, but he ignores it. 

All he cares to acknowledge, all he cares to feel, is the indefinable connection. That pull which has always been there. The piece of him that has always been Steve. The piece that Hydra tried a million times to rip from his head and could never, ever touch. 

He lets it out of that corner of his mind, frees it, and lets it expand out until it's everywhere. 

And when it's ready, when it's _right_ , he opens his eyes and lifts his head, letting the distance between them vanish. He couldn't tell you how their souls touch, mingle, but they do and when they do, he can see the change in an instant. Steve's skin looks flushed, warm, and Bucky smiles.


End file.
